The opening scene, a dream sequence prior to the vaudeville routines which follow, is what makes this film famous.
In it Keaton plays everyone in a theatre simultaneously (through multiple exposures).
He is the band leader, all its members, the dancers on the stage and everyone in the audience.


This movie is part of the collection: Silent Films

Director: Edward F. Cline, Buster Keaton
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Production Company: First National Attracktion
Sponsor: k-otic.com
Audio/Visual: silent, black & white
Keywords: Silent; Comedy; Buster Keaton
Contact Information: www.k-otic.com

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: cynthiagabre - - July 16, 2012
Subject: Rights on the use of the playhouse material.
Hello my name is Cynthia Gabrenja, I'm argentinian and I'ld like to know if there's a chance to get the rights on your material, It's only 2 seconds from the film for a non-profit tv documentary
production.
My doubt is the following, as it says the material is for educational and research purposes only and they are public domain use, I need to certify (for the network broadcast) this material is to be use freely (always on the behalf of educational purposes as the documentary is for young people about drug use.

Is there a chance for you to tell me if the use and placement of some of your material in the documentary is possible? Could I have some sort of document use lease about that image?.

We'll be thanking your production company for the lease on this material.

Hope to hear soon from you again.

Thanks.

Cynthia.

Reviewer: zaziemetro - - December 18, 2011
Subject: Hilarious!
One of the best of Keaton's short films!

Reviewer: 1iberal - - May 8, 2009
Subject: The Play House (1921)
wrong name
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0012570/

Reviewer: SquareEyed - - January 28, 2006
Subject: Cynic Won Over
I had heard of Buster Keaton and had seen him in a brief cameo in Sunset Boulevarde but had never watched any of the films he made in his prime. The concept of Keaton playing everyone in a theatre simultaneously (through multiple exposures)tickled my fancy so I chose this as my introduction to the Keaton style. I'm a cynic by nature and expected very little from this film as many silents have left me cold and have not aged well. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to find my self chuckling loudly at many sequences. The short running length might just be the catalyst to entice people to invest a little time to discover this film legend.Image quality is pretty washed out in the smaller downloads so I chose the MPEG2 (657 MB) version which had greater detail. Gotta check out more of his films...